A Cold Void
by Doctor Snake Eater
Summary: A crossover between FoZ and Deadbolt, and a product of melancholy and listening to Jocelyn Flores too many times. Hearing a call from another world, The Fireplace realizes it has nobody that can answer it... so it revives Ibzan to answer the call and see what exactly is going on on the other side, in order to atone for his crimes. After all... a man undead cannot live with me.
1. Ibzan

Chapter One: Ibzan

* * *

 _An empty soul…_

 _A fathomless sea…_

 _A bleeding heart…_

 _A wilting tree…_

 _A frozen tear…_

 _A rusted key…_

 _A torn up letter…_

 _A cup of tea…_

 _A shattered mirror…_

 _A ruler's fie…_

 _A stolen ring…_

 _A dead man free…_

 _A dragon's breath…_

 _A castle's debris…_

 _A man undead…_

 _Cannot live with me…_

* * *

It was warm.

The perfect kind of warm. The kind similar to the warmth of a thick blanket wrapped around your body on a cold winter's night. Maybe you're sitting in front of a fireplace, maybe you have a mug of hot chocolate in your hands, maybe you've just eaten a hot Christmas dinner, or maybe you're sharing that blanket with someone you love.

It was an indescribable warmth that comforted the soul.

The Fireplace, or The God of Life, was pondering. It was known by many names. A great being of warmth, a giver of life, and one who has others take it.

In the embrace of its warmth, seated in a comfortable recliner, fast asleep, as he had been for a long, long time, was its Reaper. The Reaper did his best. He did well. He returned those who still held its warmth to the afterlife, to the other side.

The undead do not need warmth.

The Fireplace was pondering however, on something it felt. A stirring, from somewhere far, far away. Something was breaching boundaries that should never be crossed. Like a pinprick stabbed into the fabric of reality, a hole so minuscule and minute that nothing could possibly slip through.

The Fireplace knew this calling. It was a cry for help. Again and again, it had felt this sensation echoing through limbo, and again and again, it was unable to respond. It had no Reapers that were free. They were either dead, or dealing with them.

Once again, the God of Life would have to ignore the calling….

…except it did have a Reaper. Or, what remained of one. One who was so desperate for atonement…

…One who has been without its warmth for far too long.

* * *

It was cold.

It was so, very, cold.

An unbearable cold, a frost that chilled you to the soul. It did not make your teeth chatter or your bones shake. It went beyond that. It seeped into your soul. It numbed your senses. It left you feeling empty. Like a man who'd lost everything, now left out in the rain. Like a soldier who fought for a home that became ruins in his absence. Like a painter turned blind.

A deep, dark and fathomless cold. Purgatory.

And then….

…there was warmth.

Bones stirred as warmth began to flicker and tickle at metacarpals. It came from the tips of fingers and toes, then worked its way up each digit and knuckle, before seeping into the forearms, the legs, up to the humerus and thighs, into the scapula and pelvis, and into the ribs.

As the warmth reached a punctured skull bearing the horns of a ram, a gasp suddenly came from a lungless chest.

Ibzan awoke, and he felt warmth once more.

And Ibzan cried, though no tears were shed.

"My… friend…"

 _"Ibzan. It has been too long… I am sorry."_

"No… the one who must apologize… should be me." The undead let out another rattling gasp as he slowly sat up. His body had been propped up against the well outside the large, wooden cottage. He could feel warmth inside his bones, and he relished in it as snow fell from the sky.

 _"We are both at fault, to a degree my old friend. But you have done many things that I cannot ignore… which is why I have a new task for you. Something for you to do if you wish to truly atone for what you have done... for all the lives you have taken, including your own."_

"Anything. I will do anything for you. Just please… do not leave me again. Do not let me leave you again." Ibzan shuddered as he slowly pushed himself to his feet, his bones creaking. Grabbing the edge of the well, he forced himself to stand up straight, noting that there was warmth coming from the well. "Ah… so that is where you were…"

 _"You may not see me again, just yet… but in time, I will allow it. My Reaper has done his job, and he sleeps until I require him again.. but I have a task for you that only you can accomplish. You stand at an odd precipice, a being between Reaper and Undead. You have my warmth in your soul, but you have no flesh. Your blood is black, but it rests in your bones. Technically, you no longer exist. I have pulled some strings and returned you to a form of existence that is neither living, nor dead. You simply 'are'. And because of that, you can go through the boundaries of space and time."_

"Space… and time. What is it you would have me do?" Ibzan murmured, tilting his skull.

 _"For the past millennia, every hundred years or so, I would feel a calling from beyond the veil of our reality. I have never been able to acknowledge it, because I am bound here, and so are my Reapers. I could not risk any of the Reapers I had at the time of the calling… but you on the other hand…"_ The Fireplace hummed. _"You can bypass the fabric of reality when I give you the push you need, and you can answer the call. Once you get there… it is up to you to find out where the call for help is coming from, and why it cries out. Solve it, if you can. There is no rush."_

"And when I have finished my duty?" Ibzan asked as he looked down the well.

There was a sudden flicker of fire as something appeared in the well's bucket in a burst of ash and smoke, startling the undead.

It was a lighter.

No… it was HIS lighter.

"This is…" The former Reaper murmured, picking up the lighter between his thin, bony fingers.

 _"My Reaper found it in your room. I fixed it for you. It should work just fine now. When you have completed your duty, simply turn it on, and then toss it into the closest thing that passes for a fireplace here, and I will know you are ready to return."_

"Thank you… my friend." Ibzan sighs with gratitude. He felt happy, for the first time in a long, long time. Pocketing the lighter, he found that there was also a packet of cigarettes in the bucket. Taking those as well, he cracked his neck a little. "What about weapons?"

 _"Take what you need from the house. When you are ready… just flick the lighter on."_

* * *

Ibzan strode through the large cottage, his coat fluttering lightly. All around were the scattered remains of those who worked for him. Not his friends, barely comrades, they were followers who he promised warmth.

Empty promises.

He felt no remorse as he looked upon their bones. Everything he had done, he had done for exactly this. To feel his friend's warmth again.

He got what he wanted, but at what cost?

"I hope you all find warmth, wherever your souls are now." He mutters before continuing his walk through the empty house.

He was no longer Ibzan the leader of the Dreged.

He was now, once more, Ibzan, a Reaper.

And a Reaper always carried two weapons with them. Time to find his first weapon.

Reaching one of the floors of the house, he found a gun that he knew the Reaper he encountered before had used on him.

With extreme prejudice.

But really, he couldn't blame him. This weapon was honestly, ridiculous.

The Revenant. It was a pistol that held only five bullets, but each one packed a punch strong enough to crack the skulls of some of the toughest undead. This gun is what put the hole in his head.

A hole that healed actually. He couldn't feel the hole in his forehead.

As if this gun wasn't strong enough, each bullet could actually pierce through pretty much everything. Walls, floors, armored doors, each shot from this gun would keep going.

Reaching up to the gun, Ibzan hesitated. The Revenant was powerful. Almost.. Unnecessarily powerful.

This thing killed him. That made him feel a little awkward, wielding it…

Dropping his hand, he continued walking. He knew what gun he would pick after all. But first, his second weapon.

Finding the plaque on the wall he was searching for, he found the Scythe.

The staple of every Reaper.

He didn't even hesitate as he wraps his fingers around the shaft of the farming tool turned murder weapon, and lifts it up.

It was just as light as he remembered.

He couldn't just carry this thing in his hand however, and his jacket didn't have any sheaths for this thing…

"Sorry about the drapes…" Ibzan muttered as he took one of the curtains in his hands and ripped a large section of it off, before he began to tie it onto two separate parts of the scythe's main body, creating a band of fabric to keep the entire thing strapped to his body as he loops it around him like a guitar case.

Feeling the weight of the scythe hanging from his body, he adjusted the makeshift strap before he walked out of the cottage.

 _"Only taking the scythe? Very traditional."_ The Fireplace said, amused as he walked towards the well.

"Nothing wrong with the classics… but I am taking a gun. I might need you to reload it however." Ibzan chuckled before leaning down in the snow and picking up a discarded firearm.

The gun he held in his last stand. The one he carried with him into this place before he died.

The .32 revolver. Six bullets. Silver in color. The classic gun of all Reapers.

Feeling the weapon grow a little heavier, he flipped the chamber open to find fresh bullets.

 _"I've tweaked it a little. If you run out of ammunition, of which I have given you 60 rounds in your jacket, the gun will reload itself after 24 hours. Only use the other 60 bullets when you need to. Every shot counts."_

"As always… and if I need to, I will just use whatever weapons I find in the field."

 _"Like a true Reaper."_

"I have not been one for a long time… might as well try my hand at it once more." Ibzan muttered before holstering the gun on the inside of his jacket. Pulling out his lighter, he flips it open, before looking to the well. "Once more… thank you, for this chance, my friend."

 _"Be safe Ibzan. When you are done… you will have a place to return to. And a chair with your name on it."_

"It sounds like heaven…" The reborn Reaper hums, before pulling out a cigarette and placing it between his teeth on the left side of his mouth….

…and then flicking the lighter.

In a burst of blue flames, he vanished.

And into the void, he went, following the cry of a girl begging for help.

* * *

 **I am not apologizing.**

 **I can hear the fans of Zero Perfection crying out in injustice already. Hehe, don't worry guys, that'll get updated... eventually. This year. Maybe.**

 **Okay, so this one came to me out of... a dark place. Don't expect an update to this for a long time, this is just a little idea dump, something I decided to write because tonight feels very cold and I've unfortunately been listening to Jocelyn Flores by xxxtentacion a lot. I love that song, but it also makes me feel weird. Anyway, cuz of that, I ended up writing this just to channel my... suddenly morbid thoughts. So don't expect me to update this until I get morbidly depressed again.**

 **Which happens more often than you think.**

 **I don't even know where I'm going with this story, I'm just gonna go with how I feel I guess. Anyways, toodles. Its late. I'm exhausted. I wrote this all in like, less than an hour in a morbid, tired haze so I'm not sure if its even grammatically sound.**


	2. Ashes to Ashes, to Ashes

_Chapter 2: Ashes to Ashes, to Ashes_

* * *

 _A girl distraught_

 _A void unseen_

 _A man undead_

 _Cannot live with me_

* * *

If you were in the know at Tristain's Academy of Magic, you would know the name Louise Francoise Le Blanc De La Valliere. Or at the very least, know her by her title; Louise the Zero.

It was hard to be unware of someone so abysmally skilled in magic. Every spell she cast ended in an explosion of light and soot. The size and intensity of said explosions vary, sometimes depending on the level of spell cast, other times depending on her general mood.

People made a point to avoid the pink haired girl at all costs during class. She sat alone at her tables, ensured they'd raise their hands as fast as possible when the professors ask for a practical demonstration of magic in order to prevent the prideful pinkette from causing a scene, and classmates tended to rib her and mock her to make her hopefully resign from the academy. After all, from day one, she's only managed to scrape by with her admittedly stellar grades in written essays and magical theory. Someone like her would only continue to cause further accidents, or worse, injuries if she were to be allowed to continue practicing magic.

This was the life of Louise of the prominent Valliere family, and she despised it.

She hated every bit of it.

The jeering of her fellow students, the pitying and oftentimes resigned looks of the teachers, she hated every last bit of it.

Today, she would prove them wrong however. That was the thought she had running through her mind as she stepped up to the proverbial stage, the teasing words of her class a mere white noise behind her.

Especially that damn Zerbst. Stupid red haired cow. With that tall body and curvy figure. Hmph.

Louise did her best to ignore all the sounds and sights around her. The noises her classmates were making, the pitying look on Professor Colbert's face, they were distractions. She had to succeed with this spell. This spell, the Familiar Summoning spell, was a simple one, so laughably simple that it is mandatory for a student to have been able to actually use it and gain a familiar if they wish to continue studying here.

This was her Make or Break moment.

So, slowly, Louise raised her wand and pointed it at the drawn summoning circle. Her eyes were shut, her lips were pursed and her heart was in her throat.

"Hear me, oh noble familiar, my servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe…"

This wasn't exactly the same familiar summoning spell, she was modifying it a little. Some spells allowed for a little leeway and creativity in the chants, as long as the intent and general structure was the same. That didn't seem to stop her classmates from muttering words of how she was going to fail simply from this.

"...my divine, beautiful, wise and powerful servant… heed my call!"

The summoning circle was starting to glow, and she could hear something amidst the white noise of her classmates murmuring and the wind beginning to blow at her clothes and hair.

It sounded like…

….a crackling fire.

"…I wish from the very bottom of my heart and soul…"

The summoning circle was glowing a warm, comforting orange that she could barely make out through her eyelids as her mantle began to billow in the wind.

"…add to my guidance, and appear! I, Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere, plead by the Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers, heed my summoning…"

Her eyes snap open.

"And bring forth my familiar!"

The summoning circle glows brighter, like an intense flame…

…and dies out.

As the light from the circle fades, so too does Louise's hope and determination, her heart falling into the pit of her stomach as her arm lowers down. "…no…"

She could already hear the laughter beginning to rise up from behind, and the consoling words from Colbert about to leave his mouth.

Suddenly, there was a click, followed by a burst of smoke and ash, as something spontaneously appeared right in the center of the circle.

It wasn't a dramatic appearance, the smoke and ashen clouds only appeared for a scant few seconds, but it was sudden enough that everyone's attention was drawn to the circle.

And Louise felt like she'd made a mistake.

Standing in the center of the circle was undoubtedly, an undead.

It was a skeleton, standing at a height of at least 6 feet, perhaps more. Its skull was humanoid, yet had the horns of a ram, or at the very least he had one of them, the right one seems to have been cut clean off at the base, leaving a small stump.

Its upper jaw was damaged, sporting a missing chunk running down from the nostrils. Its skull had a number of hairline fractures running down the scalp, signifying some sort of damage. Between its teeth was some sort of… stick that seemed to be lit on the end. Some sort of tobacco?

Its clothes were undoubtedly the strangest part of its appearance. Its ribs were bare under a thick fur collared and dark blue colored coat of some kind that went down to its knees, and it wore long black trousers that somehow fit on its skeletal frame and didn't fall down off its hips. On its feet were pointed black dress shoes.

What made her blood go cold however, was the weapon peeking from over its shoulder. A large scythe was strapped to its back by some sort of dark reddish brown fabric.

A fearful, childish part of her mind wonder if she may have just accidentally summoned Death itself.

"Hmm…" The undead hums to itself, it's that of a male's, raspy, and echoing slightly as it lowers its right hand, holding an odd metal contraption that had a briefly flickering flame in it, before shutting the strange device, extinguishing the fire as he tucked it into his coat. "So this is where the call was coming from…"

The undead was capable of speech. This wasn't a mere reanimated skeleton, this had to be some sort of… Lich!

The ram horned being's words seemed to have snapped Professor Colbert out of his stunned state as he smiled a tad bit nervously at Louise. "C-congratulations Miss Valliere, you've successfully summoned a familiar! You should… seal the contract soon just in case."

Louise nodded, gulping as she steps up to the skeleton. She immediately regretted that decision as his head slowly tilted downwards to stare at her.

"…a human..? How did a human…"

The undead seemed almost… shocked from his tone of voice, before he slowly knelt down in front of Louise, peering at her with those empty eye sockets.

"Are you the one who was calling?"

"C-calling?" Louise squeaked, her face pale as she stood in front of this specter. "Y-you mean.. the summoning spell?"

"Spell… so it was magic..?" His skull tilted sideways a little, the smoking white stick in his mouth definitely smelling of tobacco as Louise grimaced from the scent.

"It was indeed, erm, sir undead. Every second year student here has to perform a summoning spell to gain a familiar." Professor Colbert spoke up, thankfully drawing the undead's attention away from Louise.

"Familiar…" The skeleton stands up again, slowly taking out the stick from his mouth and dropping it on the ground, before stamping it out with his heel. He slowly gestures out towards the sea of Louise's classmates, the lot of them flinching and hiding behind each other, most of them actually fearing Louise had somehow summoned Death, only a small amount of them standing their ground and just… staring. "And all those… animals I see there… those are familiars too?"

"Yes, the summoning spell summons a creature from around the world that is most compatible with the summoner as a lifetime companion." The balding teacher nods, slowly regaining composure. "I have.. never heard of any undead being summoned however… this is entirely new ground!"

"Hmm… strange…." The skeleton seemed to twitch at the 'undead' comment, before turning his head around to take in his surroundings. "I wonder why nothing else answered the call then..?"

"What do you mean?" Colbert raised a brow from behind his spectacles.

"I was… made aware of a call for help. I had assumed it was a cry of distress from beyond the veil." The undead hummed slowly, before turning to look down at Louise. "Nothing was answering it… so I decided to follow the call and I was led here. Curious."

Louise's heart sank.

If she was hearing this right…

….then that means this undead was only summoned by her because it allowed itself to be summoned…

…and that nothing else was compatible with her.

As she tried to come to terms with this, she bit her lip and stood up straighter. "B-but.. you'll be my familiar, correct? Y-you answered my summons! So you have to be! R-right?"

The coat clad skeleton stared down at her, its expression unknown, for a second or two before slowly nodding. That simple action made her heart swell.

"A familiar is supposed to be a… lifetime companion… so all I need to do is remain with you until your human lifespan inevitably expires. An easy enough task. You humans live like there is no tomorrow… your lives are but candles in the wind."

The way he put it made her shudder a little and realize just how small her existence truly was compared to ageless beings like the undead, but any negative feelings were overshadowed by the joy in her heart as she smiled nervously and lifted up her wand.

"T-then kneel down, erm, familiar, and let us complete the contract!"

"Hold on!"

One of the students in the crowd behind Louise spoke up, expression panicked as he turned to look at Colbert. "P-professor, you aren't seriously allowing the Zero to make a contract with an UNDEAD are you!?"

"She summoned him as her familiar, therefore she must make the contract. You know this Mister Applewood."

"But it's an undead!" Another female student piped up, looking extremely concerned and downright disgusted. "What if it attracts more of them!?"

"Then they'll wish they stayed dead."

That single, cold statement from Louise's new familiar silenced the class entirely as it stared at the other students.

"If I hear one more person call me an undead, I'll start feeling less… charitable. I don't 'have' to be here… but I will choose to since this girl needs a familiar… I couldn't care less about any of you humans. Your lifetimes are finite, and you take the pleasures of living for granted. But I won't stand for being called something I'm not."

He tilted his head slowly to the side, shoulders shifting down as the scythe on his back glinted in the sunset's orange glow.

"After all… the undead fear Reapers."

Reaper.

 _Reaper._

 ** _REAPER._**

Louise's mind almost went blank.

She…

…might have 'actually' summoned Death.

Professor Colbert coughed loudly into his fist to cut the tension as he looked at Louise. "E-erm, Miss Valliere, please complete the contract, it is getting late."

Snapping out of it, Louise nods and gestures for the REAPER to kneel down. As he complies, she clears out her throat and taps him on five separate points. Either side of his ribs, both shoulders, and then finally, his forehead.

"I am Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere… Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers, bless this humble being, and make him my familiar."

The tip of her wand glows briefly and she nervously leans forward and pecks her new familiar on the… teeth.

She couldn't tell from his expressionless skull, but she got the feeling he was genuinely surprised by that action.

"Was… that necessary? I do not think little girls should be kissing skeletons they just met."

"I-I'm fifteen damn it!"

"Ah, my apologies."

Well at the very least he didn't react to her actual age like most others do. It's not her fault she's so short.

Slowly, the Reaper stands up and adjusts his coat, briefly glancing at his hand, feeling something.. etch into his bones.

Curious. Questions for later.

"My name is Ibzan. I suppose until your death… I am your familiar." The Reaper said, nodding at Louise.

And that was probably the best thing she's heard all day.

* * *

Almost as soon as the contract was completed, all the students were ushered off to their rooms since it was reaching dusk very quickly.

Louise would have been lying if she said she didn't enjoy the nervous looks her classmates were giving her new familiar.

She also would have been lying if she said she wasn't feeling a little sheepish as both she and her familiar, Ibzan, stared down at the pile of hay she had prepared in her room.

"….I-I thought I was getting an animal, okay?"

"I said nothing. It beats the cold, hard floor at least."

Louise was a little caught off guard by the vitriol in Ibzan's voice as he said 'cold'.

As she moved to her wardrobe to change her clothes, she noticed the Reaper immediately gravitating towards the armchair by the fireplace in her room, a recent addition due to winter being predicted to arrive earlier than normal. Slowly, he took off the scythe wrapped around his shoulder and set it down to lean against the wall, before seating himself down in the chair, sighing deeply.

He looked completely relaxed in that chair. It was... almost stunning. Picturesque even.

He never once glanced in her direction as she changed into her nightdress. Maybe he was a gentleman, or maybe he didn't have any sort of interest in that sort of thing since he was a skeleton.

Maybe he did glance and she couldn't tell because he had no eyes.

As she sat on the edge of her bed, a million questions bloomed in her head, each one cowed by how nervous she was.

"….something on your mind?" Ibzan spoke up, slowly turning his head to look at her.

"A-ah! Well, I was just… I have questions."

"Ask."

"W-well, I have a lot of them…"

"I won't sleep for a while, and neither will you. I have time to answer questions."

"W-wait, you sleep?" Her eyebrows raise up as she looks at Ibzan's skeletal frame. "But… how does that work? Why would you need sleep?"

"I don't need to..." He hums, his voice taking on a… somber tone. "But… I did enjoy sleeping.. and I have not been able to do so for… a long time. It is something I sorely miss from being alive…"

"You./. were alive once?"

"All Reapers were." He nods slowly.

"Then… how did you… how do you become a Reaper?"

Ibzan tilted his head and looked towards her fireplace.

"….we are chosen."

The way he said that only gave Louise more questions. Chosen by who? Brimir?

"Anything else..?"

"R-right! Erm.. do you… are you really a… spirit of death? Do you take souls and guide people to the afterlife?"

"In a sense." Ibzan hummed, his gaze never leaving the fireplace as he stands up and slowly walks towards it, kneeling down and pulling out his metal device. "We ensure the balance of life and death remains just that, in balance… we go out and kill the undead, sending them back to the other side where they belong."

As soon as he flipped the lid off, he clicked something and then gently blew on the flickering tongue of flame that appeared, before fire was spewed into her fireplace, lighting the logs as he clasped his device shut and walked back to the armchair.

"A-and what about.. the afterlife?" Louise gulped, asking something that many have wondered. "What's… what's the afterlife like..? What's… Heaven like? And… what's Hell like?"

"I don't know."

"What?"

Ibzan turned to look at her and shrugged, his hands folded in his lap, seemingly amused by her shocked expression. "Most Reapers don't experience the afterlife. We all mostly remain in Limbo, between life and death, where we make sure the dead stay on the other side. Sometimes demons from Hell will come through, and we send them home with their tails between their legs. But…"

He leans back and looks at the ceiling.

"….Hell… true Hell… is cold."

"…cold?" Louise murmurs quietly as she stares at her pensive familiar. "What do you mean?"

"Picture yourself lost in the snow… the cold seeps into your bones. You are alone. Isolated. Everyone you love is gone… all your friends have left. You feel dumb as you fall to your knees, losing sensation in your body, the cold filling your lungs as you collapse… and the frost envelops you forevermore. You can no longer feel the warmth of another's touch… of the fireplace…"

Ibzan slowly looks down at the crackling fireplace, fingers interlocked on his lap. "That… is Hell."

The pink haired teen nodded slowly, her face pale, eyes downcast.

That… sounded horrible. It sounded like a nightmare.

The thought of being unable to feel again…

…it was scary.

"But Heaven… Heaven is right here, in a sense."

"Huh?" Her eyes glance up at her familiar. "What do you mean? Where?"

"I am looking at it."

Louise followed his gaze, and stared at the fireplace.

"The… fireplace is Heaven? How?"

"What is a Fireplace, young one? What does it mean to light up a fireplace and to sit in front of it?"

"I…. don't know..?" Louise frowns, trying to see where he was going with this. Ibzan simply shakes his head slowly.

"When you think you know, tell me. These are questions that some people don't understand… even though the answers are obvious at times. I never figured out the answer myself.. until it was too late…"

"…okay." The pinkette sighs, yanking on her bed's blanket as she begins to tuck herself in. "I… think that's enough for tonight. I didn't expect this sort of conversation tonight and I am worn out… so I will sleep now, familiar."

Ibzan simply nods, staring at the crackling fire as he reclines in his seat.

Slowly, the two of them drift off.

One with dreams of numbing cold.

The other with dreams of distant warmth.

* * *

 _Its been a horribly stressful day, and I won't lie, my failure to summon Mysterious Heroine X Alter despite spending a total of 120 hard earned SQ from missions, interludes and extra mission rewards and ten summon tickets, might have had something to do with it, besides me being unable to sleep right lately and just.. general unpleasantness related to depression._

 _So yeah, like the first chapter, I ended up writing this in my upset, annoyed and just tired state. Hence why its so short._

 _Anyway, any lore and stuff I exposit in this about Deadbolt is purely speculative and just stuff I make up to fill in blanks, because if you've played Deadbolt before, you know that the lore is... weird. And grim._

 _Still a fucking great game though. Amazing replay value cuz of how challenging it can get. 10/10. Completed it at least 10 times now, including both normal and hard mode._

 _Anyway, toodles. I'm gonna try and finally get some sleep._


End file.
